Cooks, nurses fill in as prisons run low on guards

'When we play officer, we are not equipped'

Published: 3 days ago

(USA TODAY) — When Kristan Morgan joined the U.S. Bureau of Prisons three years ago, the 30-year-old nurse expected to spend her days caring for the chronically sick and injured inside the nation’s largest correctional system.

What she didn’t expect: Being abruptly plucked from the busy medical unit in Tallahassee to pull guard duty in cell blocks — including a wing for solitary confinement.

“We get a radio and set of keys, and we don’t know which keys fit which doors,” said Morgan, who often reports to guard duty in scrubs and running shoes because there are no extra officer uniforms.